Guilty
by Sweet Potato Jack
Summary: "You do what you have to... I deserve worse. But I have one favor to ask. Please... p-please... don't tell what I did. Say nothing. Or lie. Make something up. But don't tell what I did..." Story idea popped into my head. Don't know how far this will go.
1. Chapter 1

The doctor could hear the entrance of Mr. Pierce and took a deep breath. Results were demanded. Expected. He would not be happy to hear of the setback. A soldier relaxed the grip of the gun he had trained on the medical professional as she walked outside of the barred room to the elder man.

"Sir, h-he's unstable," came the flummoxed words of one of the technicians assigned to work with her. For a moment, she found herself wondering if he had been placed in the same situation as she had. If S.H.I.E.L.D. had dirt on him that forced his compliance. Mr. Pierce paid the man no mind. He merely continued walking into the converted bank vault, meeting her eyes. She forced a blank, measured expression in her eyes.

"We need to delay this," she said evenly, I'm showing signs of psychological trauma."

The man glanced down at the soldier seated in the midst of the equipment, soldiers trained on him.  
"His psychological well-being is not my concern, doctor."

"You asked me to make him ready for combat and I've done my best to accomplish it, but he won't be able to fight for anyone if he's a vegetable."

Pierce gave her a dark glare. "I don't recall asking you anything - not for your assistance or advice." The last part was almost a whisper "Do your job, Dr. Greer, or _his_ vegetative state will be the least of your concerns."

The tears stung in her eyes before she could place the mask back onto her features and she looked around the room, noting the extra soldiers who had entered. At least he wasn't stupid enough to stay in a room unprotected. In the man's fragile state, he was completely unpredictable.

The slam of the barred door shook her back to the present and she turned back to the man. He had been absolutely aggressive before, fighting the technician as he repaired his arm, demanding to know who they were and where he was. Now he sat quietly, in almost childlike repose, starring off at absolutely nothing.

"Mission report?" Pierce said, standing before the man. But the man didn't move. He didn't even seem to hear the question. He just continuedstaringg. "Mission report, now." Pierce demanded again. No response. No change in the man's demeanor. Pierce took a minute to adjust his tie, looking back at the doctor, who raised her brows and pursed her lips, the only act of defiance she felt she could safely make.

The elder man walked up slowly to the man that was seated, studying his eyes even as the soldiers surrounding them seemed to all hold their weapons a bit tighter. Suddenly Pierce reached back and slapped the man, the hit reverberating around the room as the soldiers backed up weapons still trained. Even those who had kept their weapons down now had almost unconsciously raised them.

But the man in the chair didn't retaliate. He acted as if he didn't even feel the blow. He looked up at Pierce, still in a haze of confusion. "The man on the bridge….who was he?"

Now that had never happened. At least since she had been "assigned." Dr. Greer looked from the man in the chair to Pierce. "You met him earlier this week on an assignment." She wasn't sure if it was true or not. He had been given an assignment earlier that week. But something in Pierce's tone told her that there was more to this. She glanced at one of the men to her right who was positively seemed inanimate - as if holding completely still to see if the explanation was acceptable.

The man in the chair looked around, still confused, before settling his gaze in another unoccupied space in the room. "I knew him," he stated simply.

Pierce pulled a chair up, taking a breath before adopting a more calm and nurturing tone. "Your work as been a gift to mankind. You shaped the century. And I need you to do it one more time. Society's at a tipping point between order and chaos. Tomorrow morning, we're going to give it a push. But… you don't do your part, I can't do mine. And HYDRA can't give the world the freedom it deserves." The doctor had heard Secretary Pierce use the word HYDRA before. It had seemed to calm the man in the chair at times when he seemed agitated. Perhaps it was a division of S.H.I.E.L.D. unknown to her or most of the public. After all, most of the men surrounding them now wore S.H.I.E.L.D uniforms. But this freedom…..if it required the forced service of a relatively unknown and obscure doctor to help with the programming of a living weapon, she doubted it would be freedom she would be thankful for.

The air chilled as Pierce silently waited for the man in the chair to speak. The doctor heard someone clear his throat and another soldier cock his rifle. "But I knew him…" the man in the chair said softly, determined.

Pierce took a deep breath before standing. Within a few moments, he was before her and the two technicians. "Prep him."

She kept her gaze trained on the man. "He's been out of cryo-freeze for too long. I can't guarantee what-"

"Then wipe him," Pierce said quickly the sharpness of his words forcing her to look up, " and start over."

She stared at Pierce a beat longer than what was probably advisable before following the technicians to the medical monstrosity that the man was seated in. He had tears in his eyes. Actual tears. He should remember very little about the procedure but seemed to be bracing himself for the pain to come. The men pushed him down as she punched in the sequencing, watching the elevated heart rate on the monitors. One tech waited with a mouthguard in his hands, prepared to carefully explain what it was and why it was needed. The man didn't even look up. He just licked his lips and opened his mouth. Again, this was odd. Unless something had occurred before her entrance into this "happy family", he should have had no memory. None at all.

The machine whirred to life as mechanical bracers cupped both his real and cybernetic arms in place, keeping him still as the circular interface began it's journey to his head. She punched in the final sequence as the circlet reached its target the connectors literally sparking to life. It gripped his skull, the final connector starting a jolt at the brainstem that continued to his entire skull. That's when the screaming began.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 is up and ready!

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Dr. Greer checked the vitals of the man for the third time. The uneven heart EKG and irregular breathing, combined with the constant cold sweat and nervous shaking again alarmed her. If she had met someone in her office with half of his symptoms she would have been calling the hospital to prep for an incoming heart attack. She prepped a syringe of acetoxybenzoic acid, not fully knowing if the chemical would help at all. His body's ability to generate minor injuries within hours usually kept him alive until he came back to the base, "a side effect of his conditioning" as she had been told. But she didn't have the equipment to truly assess how his body was doing internally. She slipped the syringe within the port of the IV carefully before looking around the room. Two guards were present - her normal shadow and one assigned to the man. The guards were deep in conversation, laughing and joking and completely ignoring the doctor and her charge. She looked down at her patient. He was whimpering now, still struggling instinctively against the restraints and the device on his head. He wasn't dangerous anymore, and with her preoccupation with her patient kicking in, no one worried about her going AWOL.

She supposed they had a point. She disposed of the syringe, being reminded in that moment of the whole reason she was there. Her eyes stung as the loneliness of her situation slipped around her. Was she alright? Was she receiving the proper care? Without permission, she walked out of the room, leaving her patient still struggling and her guard struggling to keep up. "Hey!" he cried, his feet clumsily stomping the ground as he ran to catch up. "Where you goin'?"

"To see your boss," Dr. Greer said, still walking.

"You haven't finished t-"

"I've done all I can do until this treatment is over." She could hear the soldier scream out again. Round 2. "If the treatment is ever over. Pierce owes me."

"Pierce ain't here," a soldier said walking up to meet her. She remembered him. He had been with Pierce before. She had been ordered to treat him and his men several times over. Rumlow? Was that his name? "What can I do for you, Doctor?"

"I want to see my sister," she said, not missing a beat.

Rumlow stared for a moment, then smirked. "You serious?" A blank stare was all he received as an answer. "You got a patient, Doctor. You can't leave."

"He promised me that I would be able to see her. To make sure that she's being treated."

"He didn't say now." He places his hands on her shoulders and she shrank from his grip. "Calm down, Doctor. Your family's safe and so are you, as long as you fulfill your end of the deal."

"I want to see her!" she insisted. "I've done everything I've been asked without question." It wasn't exactly true but she hoped it would appeal to whatever sense of fairness he had. Rumlow's expression confirmed that it didn't. "Please," she said finally, hating the taste it left in her mouth. She had made a point to never ask favors of anyone since she'd "joined". But it was either that or accept his detached answer.

Rumlow seemed to be amused by that and his smirked slipped into a large smile. Then a chuckle. "Tell you what," he said finally. "We'll call your family up. You and me." He opened the door to a small room that had been used by an office, still smiling. "I'll even give you my phone." He smiled even broader as he handed her a small cell phone. "Go ahead. Call your family."

She wanted to reject the call and his help, but the thought of going through another day without hearing from the child made her take the phone and walk into the room. She made sure to keep her eye on Rumlow discreetly as she dialed the number. She felt her heart catch as she heard the receiver pick up.

"Hello?"

She took a breath, trying to still her heart. "Hey, Lanelle," she said, feeling her shoulder's slump. "It's me."

The voice at the other end screeched something incoherent. "Wha- Avery? Avery how are you? Where are you?"

"I'm ok, Lanny. I'm ok." She looked up, finding Rumlow still staring, trying to decipher her conversation. She turned her back. "How's everything there?" She was almost afraid to ask. "How's Sadie?"

There was a bit of hesitation. "Good. Better."

Relief. Unbelievable relief. Like a drowning victim receiving her first breath of air. "Really?" she asked as a lump caught in her throat.

"Yeah," Lanelle said softly. "She had a bit of a battle after the bone marrow transplant. But she's tough like her auntie. She's been begging to get up and play outside."

"Really?!"

"Yeah," she could hear Lanelle sniffle and ignored it, resisting the urge to dissolve into tears as well. "Would you like to talk to her?" Avery nodded as she held the phone, forgetting that her sister couldn't see her as she listened. "Hey," her sister said softly to someone away from the receiver. "Hey, munch! I have a surprise for you."

A few beats later, a young, small, high pitched voice replaced her sister's. "Auntie! Hey Auntie!"

Avery swallowed hard. "Hey, Gizmo!" she smiled. "How are you feeling. "

"My tummy and my head hurts. They let me play with my doll but they won't let me play with my truck."

Avery felt herself smile at her niece, now going into full tattle-tale mode. "I know sweetie. But you have a big boo-boo and you have to rest so you'll get better. Did they give you medicine?"

"Uh-huh but I don't like it."

"Why not?"

"Tastes bad. Are you coming today?"

"Not today, Gizmo but soon. I promise. You just be a good girl and do what the doctors say, ok?"

"Ok," she said simply. "Love you, Auntie."

The tear that she'd been holding in finally fell. "Love you too, munchkin. Can I talk back to Mommy?"

In a few beats, her sister replaced the little girl. "You just made her day, Av. She's been begging to see you. I keep telling her that Auntie has to help other people but she still keeps asking."

"I promise, I'll be there as soon as I can."

"I know." The phone grew quiet for a moment. "This center is phenomenal. They've given everything we could possibly need, for her and me. Medicine, first class treatment. We would have never afforded it, not even with your salary as help. Thank you. I-I mean I know you had to pull a lot of strings to get her here and I know that-"

"It's ok, Nel. Just focus on her."

"And you take care of you. Whatever the government's got you involved in- wherever they've taken you - just - be safe, little sister."

"You too, Nel. I'll call you as soon as I can."

"Ok. Bye. Love you!"

"Love you too." She wiped her face before she pulled the phone from her ear, finding Rumlow's eyes still trained on her. He held out his hand, readily taking the phone from her.

"All's well, I hope?" he said cheerily, putting the phone in his back pocket.

Since when was he her bestie? "Yes. Everyone's fine."

"See, Doc, we're not all so bad." He ushered her out of the room and walked with her down the hall to the quarters allotted for her. "We just want everyone safe. And one day, you'll be able to tell that kid and your kids that because of you, their safety was all possible."

She sat down on the small cot, too weary from hearing her family's voice to even glare. "Sure. You keep telling yourself that."

"Take a break, Doc. Rest up. We'll need your boy ready for another mission tomorrow."

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Reviews are welcome and appreciated.


	3. Chapter 3

And here's chapter 3!

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Avery Greer did not sleep well that night. To be honest, she didn't sleep well most nights. But tonight was different. It wasn't the lack of comfort the small cot held. She was given a petite thin cushion much too short and wide to give anyone comfort. She supposed the guards kept the more comfortable beds for those of higher rank. It wasn't the guards. She had long-since grown accustomed to being held at gunpoint and knew, even though she was alone in a locked room, she was almost always watched. She didn't even cringe when getting dressed each day. She knew that to these men, she was a woman second, and a doctor first. Her value was in her brain and skills, and nothing more. It wasn't even the man, her patient, who couldn't sleep due to the reprogramming. He could still be heard, from low whimpers to occasional cries of pain, as he rested as much as he possibly could. Unfortunately his pain was nothing new.

Throughout the night, all she could think of was her sister and her little niece. Because of Pierce's blackmail or "offer" as he called it, the three year old received better care than she had thought possible. She'd even been given a life-saving bone marrow transplant. She knew that Pierce had been responsible for this, but this didn't - couldn't - excuse everything else he was responsible for. The lives that had been loss. She had seen clips of his work on the news and heard even more from his men as they came back. _Auntie has to help other people_ …. murderers attempting to change the world by staging a coup…. And like it or not, she was with them. Everyone would see it that way. She certainly would. Here she was, receiving full meals each day, giving a bed to rest in, and was not mistreated in any way to take care of Pierce's soldiers and the living weapon in the other room.

She sat up on the bed in the darkened room as the man in the chair screamed out again. _Final round …_ She took a quick shower and changed before exiting the room, her shadow half asleep and seated at the door. She walked passed him, not even attempting to escape. They knew that they had her. Leaving would have meant the lack of recoup time and subsequent death of Sadie. And all it cost her was her own death, bit by bit.

He had finally stopped crying out by the time she reached the converted bank vault. He was mostly still, elevated breathing ,but still, muscles contracted. Again, no guard. They were either asleep or preparing themselves for their hallowed mission. "G-mornin'," she drawled out as a warning of her presence. Sneaking up on the man, docile or not, was not recommended. He still did not move. She took a look at the monitors, noting that, though he seemed calm, his pulse was still a bit too fast for her comfort. She from the monitors to his face, noticing that he was watching her every move as if poised to strike. She looked down at the equipment, noting that the final cycle was, indeed almost complete. A dangerous thought popped into her head, and, without giving herself time to rebut, she punched a few buttons, ending the cycle prematurely.

The man took a shocked breath and she realized that he had still been in pain, just bearing down against it. She put her stethoscope near her ears and over his chest, pretending to manually check his pulse. Slowly, trepidatiously, she removed the guard from his mouth. "Кто ты? Где я?" It was robotic, as if the computer itself was speaking instead of a human being.

"I have no idea what you just said," she whispered, "but if you understand me you need to listen carefully. I stopped the cycle prematurely."

"Why?" This time, the question was in English but was still robotic.

She looked around at footsteps came closer to the vault. "Not important. You are with men who have one final mission for you. The best thing you can do is play along and act as if I didn't stop it, which would be helpful for you and me."

"Dr. Greer?" one of the technicians called.

"With my patient," she called, taking the stethoscope down.

When she turned back to him, he was studying her, as if his eyes were mapping every crevice of her face. "I know you," he said softly, his face echoing the look he had the previous day.

She could hear the technician coming up and glanced down at the man one more time. "No….you don't." He seemed to understand her meaning as she stood, saying nothing more.

"Doctor?" The technician, Harry, said as he entered. "You sure you should be in here alone?"

She moved quickly from the man. "He's normally docile after the final treatment. And I wanted to check the EKG again… make sure he didn't die on my watch."

Harry Butler smirked while checking the machine that surrounded the man. _He would see it. Harry would see it_. "A docile lion is still a lion, Dr. Greer."

She rushed over as nonchalantly as possible, holding several buttons down as she did. "Well, the sooner I prepare him, the sooner I'm finished with all of this ugly business." _3….2…..1…..._

"I don't know, Doc," Butler said, still scanning one console. " It beats the alterna-" He cut off his statement as he read the console. "Oh no…."

"I-I'm so sorry," Avery blubbered. "I must have accidentally hit something.

The man looked up at her, studying her behind his glasses. "It will take hours to reset this."

"Luckily their weapon has been activated." Butler still studied her, trying to determine alternative motive.

"Pierce will want a report of this. He'll want to know that I can't confirm complete erasure."

"You're free to give Pierce anything he wants. And if he thinks I intentionally deleted his precious files remind him that I get nothing out of it. Either way, I'm here in your _lovely_ company."

The man studied her for a beat longer before a voice interrupted them. "There a problem here, Butler?" It was one of the guards - her guard specifically. He looked from her to the man, obviously placing more faith in the scrawny older man's words than hers.

Butler adjusted his glasses before speaking. "No. Technical glitch." He turned to the guard and Avery let out a controlled breath. "Get a hold of Rumlow. Tell him we're ready to imprint final commands."

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Reviews are welcomed and appreciated!


	4. Chapter 4

Ok…. So over a year later…. LOL

Here's the next chapter!

Avery watched in silence as the soldiers armed themselves for combat. She wondered if she'd done the right thing. Had she helped the man they called the Winter Soldier, or had she just unleashed an unhinged creature onto the world without even Pierce to restrain him. She was still under guard, placed in a chair in the corner while everything was backed away. There would be no coming back. No grand plan after this. This was the plan. The fruition of all their arduous work. Either Pierce's goal would be reached, or they would be dead. She'd probably be dead anyway.

Four relatively new soldiers came in with the Winter Soldier, partially guarding him, partially equipping him. If there had been any difference in his behavior, no one had picked up on it. He was still completely robotic, speaking little and accepting every knife and gun given.

"Admiring your handiwork, Doctor?" Mr. Pierce said as he walked up to her. He was freshly shaven and had a new suit on. She assumed he wanted to look his best when he told the world that they would forever be under the protection of Hydra.

Her guard forced her to stand to face the man and she felt cuffs clipped around her wrists. She wasn't getting out of this. Not yet, anyway. And that finality gave her boldness. "There's nothing to admire, Mr. Pierce. Doesn't matter how nice you make the world, you're still holding it hostage." She took a breath before speaking again. "What will happen to my sister?"

He smirked. "Lucky for you, the jailor has a heart. Your sister and daughter are perfectly safe and will continue to be. I have no wish to kill innocent people."

She noticed someone's eyes on her and looked slightly to her right to see the soldier looking back at her. Was he listening? She looked back at Pierce. "So why are you telling me this? You're giving up your bargaining chip."

Pierce gave her a weird look. As if her sudden challenge impressed her, as little as it was. "What do you think is going to happen, Dr. Greer? You think that you'll get away, find help and be able to tell all our nasty secrets? Think you'll be able to stop this? Who would you tell? Who would believe you? You think Fury or any of his lapdogs in Shield will even take a second to hear a word you say? You think Captain America will?" He placed his hands on her shoulders in a fatherly manner but there was a coldness in his voice. " As far as anyone is concerned, you are just a complicit as anyone else. One way or another, you're in this as deep as we are. There is no getting out." He smiled coldly. "Cheer up, doctor. Like you said, we'll be the security for the world soon. There are worse sides to be on." He straightened, let his hands fall. "Take her to the bunker and wait for my signal."

The guard lead her out of the room, to a waiting utility vehicle, and she felt her heart drop. The man didn't even think to gag or blind her, or even knock her out as they had done the first time. They didn't plan on loosing.


End file.
